The Plague
by LittleZbot
Summary: "Never open the door to a lesser evil, for other and greater ones invariably slink in after it."
1. Chapter 1

_Day 1_

_Your World is 24% Crimson_

...

He stumbled over a rough patch of land and fell to the ground. He stayed there for a second, enjoying the brief moment of rest, the only one he had gotten tonight.

But howls from somewhere behind him gave the reminder that he could not afford to stay. If he dared stop for more than a few seconds, _they_ would catch up. And there were things in this life worse than death. Just a few more miles ahead there was a town, and where there were towns, there were buildings. And where there were buildings, there was safety.

Safety. Now there was a word that no longer had meaning. When people said their houses were "safe," what they really meant was "There's a door separating me from the outside."

Well, he had come from a place where there was no safety. There was nothing they could do. If they made doors, the monsters would break them down. If they made stronger doors, the monsters would learn how to open them. If they made underground houses, dark creatures from the depths would rise into them. If they made houses on one of the few isalnds in the sky, magically held afloat by no known means, the sky-snakes would come for them, and the devil-birds would hunt them down. Right above ground, and, well, they'd be back where they started.

But that was in the past. Recently, IT had come. A mysterious force that they had heard of many times, and hoped to the death that their small village would never see. It was like a plague, spreading everywhere, absorbing all. Everything it touched turned to blood. The stones in the street, the wood of the houses, even the monsters that hunted them. But worst of all were the people. If you where unlucky enough to be touched by the plague, you would become part of it. A horrible monster so hideous that nobody could bear to look at you. A mind so narrowed down that it now only thought one thing: kill. None could enter the plague and live. None. When the watchmen saw it on the horizon, they instantly ordered the village abandoned. There was nothing that could be done, except flee.

Most families had taken separate paths, some sticking together for strength in numbers. They would try to reach another village before nightfall, to spend the night there, and continue to travel when daytime came. Daytime had its fair share of troubles, but nothing compared to night. Night was when the deadly ones came out. Night was when darkness enveloped you, blinding you to the many attacks that came come your way. Nobody in their right mind would go out at night.

Which, of course, was exactly why he was out there.

He had to be. He needed to do something big, something crazy, something that no ordinary person would ever, ever do. He had no choice, except maybe to completely give up and desert all hope of this world being saved. So he had continued on after the rest of his group had stopped about midday. Unfortunately, he hadn't considered a few key things. A few key things like taking a weapon, a light source, or really anything else. A few key things like constant hordes of monsters, screeching in the night, eager to taste his blood. A few key things like the nearest town being more than twenty miles away.

Well, now it was two miles away, it was the middle of the night, and he had a weapon - if it could technically be called that. It was, after all, just a branch he had broken off a tree. But out here, everything was of importance. A branch was better than nothing. If you no weapon, and no shelter, you died. Simple as that.

But why did he do it? Why did he run off like that, not giving a second thought to taking anything of use, or of the fast-approaching nightfall?

Because he was the hero.

Well, he was supposed to be. Ever since birth he was different. In a good way. He didn't need to learn to fight, to build, to survive. He already knew. He had wrestled slimes to the ground, caught bunnies, and even once touched a fabled piece of rock that once belonged to the very plague that had just struck them down. He was the special, the chosen one. There were very few of him in the world, and at sixteen, he had thought he could defeat anything.

He was quickly being proven wrong.

He saw it now. He was looking down on a small village, much simpler than his old one. There were just six buildings, each one small. He guessed that the one nearest to his left was the resident nurse's, judging from the white banner waving out the front. He began to head there.

Key word: began. He hadn't taken two steps when something pounced upon him, knocking him down. He rolled over to see his attacker.

A wolf.

Ugh, he hated those things. They never went for anywhere but the neck, never showed until they attacked, and _never_ gave up. His hand grabbed for his tree branch, and he was relieved to find that it hadn't fallen out of arm's reach. As the wolf growled and pounced again, he swatted it aside with the branch. It landed on its side, but was quickly back up, snarling and lunging at him again. He tucked into a ball and rolled to the side. The wolf tried to jump on top of him, but he jabbed the base of the branch into its stomach. The wolf fell on its back, and jumped up once again.

He wasn't prepared for the wolf when it leaped onto him. In a last-ditch effort to keep it away from his neck and certain death, he shoved the tree branch out horizontally. The wolf's jaw snapped shut on the branch instead of his neck. A struggle for power began, the wolf pulling one way, he the other. They were practically in a dance as they moved all across the terrain, each trying to push off the other. Finally, he shoved the branch above his head, ducking as the wolf went with it, flipping the other way around before slamming its head on a large rock. The wolf stopped moving.

He slowly exhaled and pulled his branch out of the wolf's mouth. It was now practically useless, torn nearly to shreds from the wolf's strong jaws. He tossed it away in disgust.

He instantly regretted that when he felt a knife up against his throat. All his body motions stopped, including his breathing. His face went white. His eyes slowly moved so he could see what was holding him there. He saw only a set of regular traveler's clothes, upright in the air, like someone had just put them on. Only there was no body.

He knew instantly what it was. A restless, angry spirit, tortured by the underworld, only recently freed from his prison. It was going to take out all of its anger on anything it saw, including him.

He shut his eyes, ready for the sound of the deft movement that would mean his demise.

But instead he heard something else. The sound of rustling in the grass, and then the howling shriek of a spirit returning to its home. The knife dropped.

Cautiously, he turned around. The clothes had now fallen in a pile at the feet of a young woman holding a large dagger. She grabbed his hand and pulled him along with her until they entered a house.

She slammed the door behind him, then stood there, arms crossed.

"Do you want to tell me what the heck you were doing outside at night?"

"Not really."

"Let me rephrase that. Tell me now or I'll throw you back out."

"Well, isn't somebody angry, for talking to a guy who hasn't done anything wrong."

"Well, isn't somebody confident, for talking to a girl that just saved his life."

He rolled his eyes. "Fine. I was bored, so I decided to see how many monsters I could take out with a stick."

"I see that your current record is 'one.'"

"Look, it's a long story, and not one that I particularly feel like delving into after my throat was almost slit."

"Fine, fine. Sorry."

Well, he could tell this was going to go just wonderfully. He'd only seen this girl for two minutes, and they were already at each other's throats. She looked to be his age, and about his height, maybe a little shorter. Her chestnut-brown hair was loose and reached just past her shoulders, where it was braided tightly. Her face was locked in a scowl, which surprisingly felt unsettling.

He looked around him. This was a simple, but decent home. It looked to just contain two or three rooms. One was probably a bedroom, and another the kitchen. He was likely standing in the living room now.

He decided to attempt a different conversation. "This is your place?"

Her scowl softened slightly, and she slowly nodded.

"Any parents?"

"Nope. Werewolves."

He nodded slightly. "Wyverns."

She started to nod back, then stopped halfway. "Wait, wyverns? So, you're from the sky islands?"

"Was. Like I said, a long story."

"Yeah," She glanced around and sighed. "Guess you might as well spend the night here. Don't expect the bed, though."

He cracked a half-smile. "Trust me, I've had to sleep on a lot worse things than a wooden floor."

"Good," She said, and stuck out her hand. He took it in a fim handshake.

"Your name?" she asked.

"Leanodro Melvin Harxwell. Friends call me Leo."

"Alright, Leanodro," she said, being careful to say his full name to show that she was _not_ a friend, "My name is Kayla Autumn Jynt. Friends call me Kayla."

Leo raised an eyebrow. "No nickname?"

"If you call me Kay, I will kill you."

He raised his hands in surrender. "Sure. Whatever. Kayla works."

They were both interrupted by loud banging on the door. Leo looked out to see a large horde of Zombies pounding it. He sighed in exasperation. A Shadow or Wraith was sure to come soon. He knew why they were there. A curse of being a hero was that every monster in the area was attracted to you, like bunnies to a carrot.

"They're coming after me," he announced blatantly.

"Why?" Kayla questioned.

"It's part of that 'long story.' I'll take first watch."

Kayla didn't disagree. She could already tell from the noise that there were more monsters outside than there had ever been before.

Instead, she threw him a small sword, which he caught in the air.

"Thanks."

She didn't reply, just went straight to bed.

Leo pulled up a chair and sat down. This was going to be a long night.

...

Apparently "first watch" really meant "all night," because that's how long Leo sat there. One or two monsters had tried to come through the windows, but were quickly cut down. The rest stayed outside, until daytime came. Leo waited until he couldn't hear anything anymore, then cautiously stuck his head out. It wasn't instantly removed by a Zombie, so that was a relief. He glanced around the place to make sure all the monsters had really cleared out. When you were a hero, you couldn't afford to take chances.

He had considered waking Kayla up earlier that night, but had decided against it. He had no idea how skilled with a blade she was. Sure, she had saved his life, but the Outfit possessed by the Shadow had been focused on him, and was surprised by her attack. He didn't know how she would have fared had it noticed her. Maybe she was ten times as good as he was, maybe she could barely use it. He wasn't willing to take the risk.

Besides, he had a lot to think about. He had long since learned how to think over the Zombie noises outside, and now he was doing more of it than he had in quite a while. His main question was whether or not he still wanted to go through with this. From what he heard and what he knew, it didn't sound inviting. He wasn't even in the Deathland yet, and he had almost been killed twice. In the end, he decided, once again, that he had to. Otherwise things would forever remain the same as now. He couldn't let that happen, whether or not the solution was temporary.

Next question - what would Kayla think? Would she want to come with him after hearing his story? Probably not. And since she technically had to, he was going to have to make up some sort of sob story on the spot. He wasn't very good at that.

He looked back at the room she was sleeping in now. Well, if he was going to go on this insane adventure, he needed something to eat first. He got up and went to the kitchen to see what all she had stored in there.

What he didn't notice was somebody watching him through a window. Somebody that was no monster, but if you could see his soul, you would not know the difference. And he was not there with the very best of intentions.


	2. Chapter 2

_Day 2_

_Your world is 25% Crimson_

_The sky jiggles above you..._

...

It had been years since Kayla was last woken by anything other than her incredibly rude neighbor playing his "totally radical" music box and dancing in his living room. Today, though, she was woken up by something far more pleasant: the smell of frying fish. As she kept silent in her bed, she wondered why she couldn't always be this well-treated.

Then she remembered last night. Oh. That was why. Of course, this "Leo" guy was making the breakfast. He wanted to do something to repay her for saving his life. Well, it wasn't going to be that easy. No way. Besides, that was still _her_ fish he was cooking up. If he had really wanted to be even, he should have gone out and caught something himself.

Well, it was still breakfast, and whether she wanted to admit it or not, just laying down and smelling the food was driving her crazy. So, she slowly stood up and began walking toward the kitchen. She didn't need to get dressed - she had gone to bed in her clothes. She tried to remember why, but her head was still too foggy.

Well, there was the table, with two plates on it. On one plate there was already a wonderfully prepared trout that appeared to have been stuffed with something brown. It smelled delicious, but Kayla didn't want to just dig in to a meal prepared by a suspicious-looking guy who she had known all of one night, and talked to all of ten minutes.

Speaking of which, there he was, a large spoon in one hand and a salt shaker in the other, wearing a chef's hat and an apron, both of which made him look absolutely ridiculous. She honestly had no idea how he had even gotten them in the first place. She never kept anything like that. She was only a little more curious to see how he flipped the fish using the spoon. Sadly, she didn't get the chance to find out, as he apparently decided the fish was done and dumped it from the pan onto the empty plate.

"You missed your watch last night," he said blatantly.

Kayla suddenly remembered. Of course! That was why she had slept in her clothes, because she was going to be up again in two hours and wanted to be prepared.

"Sorry," she groaned.

"Hey, no problem. You did sort of save my life, after all."

He sat down, taking off the hat and putting his hands behind his head. He glanced at Kayla, then nodded at the other plate, gesturing for her to take a seat, which she did reluctantly. Even so, she just sat there, not saying a word, not taking a bite. Leo did the same.

After a little more than a minute, he finally broke the silence by saying, "Aren't you going to try it?"

"I am accustomed to letting the chef take the first bite," she replied shortly.

He rolled his eyes. "Seriously? We let my world-famous trout get cold for that?"

"If you would-"

"Now, wait a minute, Miss Jynt," he interrupted, "No matter who you are, or how you were raised, or what food you're used to, you never let Leo's Trout get cold. Never. Now, pick up that fork and eat."

Kayla was not used to being interrupted. She glared at Leo, but complied with his request, and carefully lifted a forkful of the fish to her mouth. She betrayed no emotion, but was surprised at how flavorful the food was. Whenever she prepared a trout, it was always tasteless, no matter what she did. This tasted like, well, how it was supposed to taste. She had never really eaten a good fish, but somehow she could tell that this was what the flavor of fish really was.

"What is it stuffed with?" she questioned, after swallowing.

"Wild mushrooms. Picked and washed them myself."

A look of alarm passed her face. "Are they safe?"

He chuckled. "They better be. I've been eating them for the past week or so. How is it?"

"Why don't you taste it for yourself, and tell me?"

"Because I like it when other people compliment my food."

"And what if I hated it?"

"You didn't."

Now a look of surprise found itself on her face. "How did you know?"

"Nobody _ever_ hates my food. Besides, you just gave it away."

She sighed. "Yeah, I guess I did."

They continued eating in silence. When both plates were finally empty, spare a few bones, Kayla sat back and asked her question.

"Now, tell me about this 'long story' of yours."

He sighed a sad, deep, almost mystical sigh. While somebody else might have been fooled, though, Kayla knew it was fake.

"My tale of woe," he began, "takes place many years ago. Back then, I was but a small child, living happily with both parents alive and well, in our simple dwelling, dangerously close to the caves of despair-"

"Wait, you told me last night you lived on the sky islands."

"Oh, yeah, I did. Uh, well, you see, we DID live on the sky islands, but that was years before this."

"Then how did your parents die from Wyverns?"

"Wait, I told you that?"

"Yep. Also told me that they were killed by the Wyverns _while_ living on the sky islands. So, how is it that this is many years later and they're both 'alive and well?'" she asked. Technically, that part was a lie, but it was a good enough guess, and it was pitifully obvious that this guy was lying himself.

"Uh..."

"Look, spare all the lies. I want to know the truth. What are you doing here, fighting monsters on the streets at night, and making up stories to cover yourself?"

He leaned forward and answered with a less-than-satisfactory-response. "Look, it's a really long story, and I'd sure love to explain it to you sometime, but right now I'm running out of time. I probably shouldn't even be staying here chatting. What you need to know is that I'm heading to the Deathland, and I need you to come with me."

As unsatisfactory as it was, the answer still shocked her at at least two different parts. She decided to deal with the most immediate one first.

"Me? Why?"

"Because you're a Guide."

Okay, that was too much. She had long tried to keep that a secret. Yes, she was technically a Guide, but that didn't mean she was proud of it. She hadn't exactly had a choice in the matter, and would much rather have been something else. It wasn't that it was boring or she didn't like it, but rather that Guiding was such a...a..._manly_ job. Ninety-nine percent of all guides, she guessed, were male, and she happened to be one of the lucky few female ones. Whoop-Dee-Doo, a free pass for endless teasing.

"How did you know that?" she asked, barely containing her anger.

"Another part of that story. I need a Guide."

"Then find another one. I'm not helping you on a suicide mission. Why do you even want to go to the Deathland, anyway?"

"Let's just say I have no choice, just like you."

"No, NOT just like me! I have a choice, and I'm staying put."

He got up, slammed his hands onto the table and stared her in the eye. "Not if you want to survive. The Plague is coming."

That got her attention. "What?"

He solemnly nodded. "It gets faster every day now. Nobody knows what's speeding it up, but I do know that it's going to reach here in less than two days."

All of her anger was instantly replaced by fear. She had heard horror stories about The Plague ever since she was a little child.

"But...that's just a myth...right?"

Leo shook his head. "Trust me, it's no myth. I wish it were. But I've been racing it for the last two weeks. I've seen what it does to what it touches. It's worse than everything we heard about it. Much worse."

Kayla jumped up and shouted, "We've got to warn them! The town has to be evacuated!"

"This and all the others." Leo said darkly. "Until a solution can be found. Now, hurry. They might listen to you. I'll get some supplies for our journey - assuming you're coming with."

Suddenly Kayla realized what Leo must be doing. His village had been touched by The Plague, and he was running ahead to warn all the towns and villages before it was too late. There was no way she wasn't going to help out.

"Of course I'm coming," she snapped, "Now, let's hurry."

...

Less than an hour later, the two met right outside town.

"That was fast," commented Leo.

"It's a small town. About a fourth of them didn't believe me. I'd hate to be them in a few days. So, what did you get?"

"Not much. Some food and water, a grappling hook, a flare in case something really bad happens, three grenades, a decent sword for me. I assume you have your own weapon?"

"You assume right." Kayla touched the base of the spear sticking out of her small pack.

Leo nodded. "Good. We still have a few hours before dark. You're the guide, so where do we go?"

Kayla called upon her instinctive talent of being able to tell what to do next.

"Well, if you're going to the Deathland, you're going to need a key. As far as I know, there's only one key to that place, in a heavily guarded underground building. The guy who built the wall separating it from the rest of the world didn't want anybody opening that door. But, for now, there's another town about ten miles from here. If we set out now, we can reach it before dark."

"Let's go, then. Night is NOT a time to be searching for shelter.

...

They had been walking for about a half an hour, conversing about the upcoming journey for the last ten minutes or so.

"If you're intent on this suicide mission," Kayla informed him, "You're going to need more people with you than me. I'd say that we at least need a nurse and a dryad."

"I get the nurse, but why a dryad?"

"Dryads are part of nature. They have some sort of special connection to it, meaning they know exactly how much The Plague has spread, and how close it is to us. They're also naturally good fighters, but the more The Plague spreads, the weaker they'll become. I'd recommend getting one sooner rather than later."

Leo nodded, showing he understood. Then, without warning, he halted.

Kayla began to ask, "What are you-"

"Shh," Leo told her. She stopped and listened, but couldn't make out anything.

They stayed put for another few minutes, but no more sounds were made. Kayla looked up nervously at the sun. They didn't have time to waste.

"The sun's not waiting for us. We should get going."

Leo turned to her, probably to say something like "You're right, let's go," but froze in his tracks.

"What?"

Leo mouthed "Don't move," and continued to stare at her.

Kayla wasn't sure what to think. She looked down at herself, but there was nothing unusual. Did she have something on her face? Why would Leo stare-

"GET DOWN!" he shouted. Not waiting for her to obey, he jumped over and shoved her over. Kayla briefly caught a glance of something big and blue right above her. She swerved her head over to where Leo used to be standing. There it was.

A huge, correction, GIANT blue slime with something strange inside its body that she couldn't quite make out was standing there. Not for long, though. Even as she watched, it jumped again, aiming for where they were now.

"MOVE!" Leo shouted again. Kayla didn't need to be told twice. She rolled out of the way just as it landed where they had been.

"What is that?!" Leo shouted.

"Um..." Kayla, using her inherited ability to quickly review everything she ever read or heard about on something, scrolled through everything she knew about slimes. Finally she remembered. "That's a King Slime. Very rare, much smarter, much bigger, much stronger. Possessed by a Shadow, it thinks like a human, and rages like a monster."

"Okay, that's fine and dandy, but do you remember how to kill it?!"

"Not really."

"Great," Leo said, "We'll have to improvise. Get out your spear." Leo himself took out his new sword. It was made of silver and glinted against the sun. Kayla's spear was simple, made of bronze, but it had protected her family for longer than she could remember. Until the day it no longer was enough...

Kayla shuddered and shook her head to clear her thoughts. Now was most definitely not the time to be thinking of those things.

She turned her head to ask Leo what his plan was, but he wasn't there. Instantly she turned back to the King Slime, and there he was, struggling to pull his sword out of its surprisingly thick body.

Kayla made a mental note never to let Leo come up with the plans. She ran up behind the King Slime and shouted to get its attention. It was hard to tell, since slimes don't have a front or back, but it seemed to take notice, as it jumped over to her.

"The Shadow! Hit the Shadow!" Leo shouted to her. Kayla saw his logic. If the Shadow were to go, the King Slime would lose its ability to think properly, giving it a severe disadvantage.

Kayla jumped up on top of a rock behind her about half the size of the slime. Before it could follow her, she leaped on top of it, jabbing her spear down in an attempt to get through to the Shadow in the center. The spear stopped just inches away. Kayla tried to pull it out for another attempt, but was surprised by how hard it was. She grabbed the handle by both hands and jerked, but it stayed put. She now understood why Leo was struggling so much to get his sword out.

Suddenly her whole body jerked, and she would have fallen off if she wasn't holding her spear so tightly. Looking down, she saw blasted hole in the ground where the side of the King Slime was. She looked over at Leo to see that he had taken off his pack and thrown a grenade.

Bad idea. Apparently King Slimes were immune to explosions, and now it was ignoring Kayla and headed toward Leo.

Then it did something that shocked both of them.

The King Slime began to bulge on the left side, almost like something was pushing to get out. Out of that bulge grew a giant hand.

"When could it do that?!" Kayla screamed.

Leo didn't reply. Instead he backed off as the giant slime grew closer. It turned out to be futile, since the King Slime just stretched its hand out farther and shoved him onto the ground, pinning him there.

Another bulge grew out of the slime's right side, and out came a hand, carrying a giant sword.

Kayla had never heard of anything like this happening, but she couldn't think about that right now. She had to save Leo. Again.

She jumped off of the King Slime and ran over to Leo's pack. There was the flare gun, the two remaining grenades, the food (Really? He couldn't have picked something _besides_ Pad Thai?) and, last of all, the grappling hook. None of it seemed like it would have any effect on the King Slime.

She looked over to see the King Slime holding his sword right above Leo, ready for the killing stab. Frantic, she decided to try something. She grabbed the grappling hook and shot it over to Leo. It latche donto the only uncovered part of him - his head. With some effort, Kayla finally got Leo out from under the hand just as the sword came down.

"That's two you owe me," she said the moment he reached her.

He unhooked the grapple and replied, "Yeah, and it's about to be three. I'm going in."

"Wait, what?"

"We're never going to get anywhere if we don't kill that Shadow. Here's what's going to happen: I'm going to go in with a grenade, set it to a timer of about five seconds, plant it right at his feet, and you're going to pull me out."

Kayla gave him a look that even she wasn't sure what meant.

"You're insane. You're going to die."

"I guess that's up to you."

Leo didn't wait for her approval, but just snatched a grenade and ran. Once he reached the slime, he headbutted it, and to Kayla's surprise, it worked. He went straight inside the King Slime.

Kayla sighed. Why was she always left with the hard work? Whatever. She kept track of Leo as he set the timer and let go of it. Thanks to the gel-like insides of the King Slime, it stayed put. Kayala launched the hook, and as it came to Leo, he grabbed it. Kayla pulled back, clearing Leo of the slime a few seconds before it exploded.

Gel flew everywhere, hitting both of them. A helmet landed at Kayla's feet, obviously belonging to the Shadow. She picked it up and wiped off the gel.

"So that's why it was so smart." Kayla realized. "The Shadow - it was a warrior. This helmet has been used many times. Each badge he got, he painted on here."

"That slime was the least of our troubles," Leo said, looking at the sun.

Kayla grimaced. "We're not going to make it before sunset, are we?"

"Nope. But that's not the worst of it."

For a second, Kayla wondered what he meant. Then she got a glimpse of the moon, which was just barely beginning to appear.

It was red. Tonight was going to be a Blood Moon.

"Oh, joy," she muttered.


End file.
